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theory has 2 distinct synonyms spread across 1 of its 3 senses. Each sense below keeps its own list, because a synonym belongs to a meaning and not to a word: swapping one sense's substitute into another sense's sentence is how a thesaurus makes writing worse. WordNet records no antonym for it — antonymy is a relation between word forms rather than concepts, so it is deliberately sparse.
Counts are distinct word forms across every sense. A synonym that appears under three senses is counted once here and shown three times below, under each sense it belongs to.
a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena
“theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses”
Synonyms, antonyms and the broader and narrower relations for theory come from Princeton University’s WordNet. Full sources and licences.
a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena
“a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory”